Image credit: Smart Growth Alliance

A key aspect of Vision Zero is that it calls on us to focus roadway safety improvements in areas and for people who are most exposed to the risks that unsafe infrastructure and policies pose. Data on crashes, severe injuries, and deaths shows us that people walking and biking, older adults, people with disabilities, people of color, and people walking in lower-income areas bear a disproportionate risk of injury or death on our streets.  

In addition to data at the national level, we see these trends in the Commonwealth. According to MassDOT, the data reveals racial disparities among crash types. The reasons for these patterns are complex, and could be caused, in part, by historical roadway design and investment policies.

Because we know that the severe impacts of roadway crashes are not distributed equally around the region, equity will be at the heart of the Vision Zero Action Plan. Efforts to ensure equity include a safety analysis focused on particular equity populations, stakeholder engagement and collaboration with equity populations, and development of recommendations for changes in policies, processes, and safety projects that lead to a more equitable region.

As the project team continues to explore the data, more information will be added to this page to explain how equity is being addressed.